Land-use - POLES

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Model Documentation - POLES

Corresponding documentation
Previous versions
Model information
Model link
Institution JRC - Joint Research Centre - European Commission (EC-JRC), Belgium, http://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/.
Solution concept Partial equilibrium (price elastic demand)
Solution method SimulationRecursive simulation
Anticipation Myopic

Land surfaces are disaggregated in the following categories:

  • The surfaces dedicated to Agricultural activities (crops, meadows, pastures). They evolve with an annual trend using population and agricultural productivity (exogenous); the growth decreases when land use is close to saturation).
  • The surface of forests evolves to account for the expansion of the agriculture surface.
  • Urban areas evolve with an annual trend using urban population and GDP growth.
  • Inland water and desert areas evolve with exogenous trends.
  • Finally grassland surface (grasslands, shrublands, savannas, natural vegetation mosaic) is the difference between the total country / region area and all other surfaces.


Energy biomass is produced from the following surfaces:

  • 1st generation biofuels: agricultural area, grassland
  • other uses: forest area (for forest residues), grassland (for short rotation crops)

Yields evolve over time, based on historical evolution.

GHG emissions from agriculture and land-use are derived from a soft linkage with the GLOBIOM model.

See Bioenergy - POLES

Information sources include: FAO.